ANNAPOLIS, Md.- The Keydets held an early 2-1 lead in the opening minutes of play, but were outscored 9-3 from the 12 minute mark of the second quarter, leading to the 14-8 Midshipmen victory Sat., Feb. 12 at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. Navy freshman Sam Jones had five goals in his first collegiate contest, while the Keydets turned the ball over 31 times in the defeat.
"Anytime you play Navy you know it is going to be a grudge math and a grind it out type of battle," said head coach Brian Anken. "The way Navy plays represents a lot of the things we try to do in using our athleticism and our riding and defense. It was great for us to come out early and take advantage of some opportunities. I wish we could have come up with more. We had the chances and battled, but that is what we expect to do."
VMI struck first, only 59 seconds into the game, as junior Drew Leonard took a pass from classmate Keith Long curling around the right side of the crease for the first Keydet goal of the season.
After Navy's Taylor Reynolds knotted the contest up at 1-1 at the 12:43 mark, VMI answered right back after illegal procedure call off the ensuing faceoff. Junior Stephen Robarge collected the ball after the procedure call, firing a crank-shot from 15 yards out to give VMI the 2-1 lead.
Navy momentarily took a 4-3 lead at the 3:21 mark of the first quarter, as Navy freshman Sam Jones scored his second goal of the contest on a man-up opportunity. Once again, Robarge answered right back following a Navy procedure penalty, darting down the field and tying the contest at 4-4 with a bounce shot that skipped past Navy keeper R.J. Wickham for Robarge's second tally of the contest.
After the game was tied briefly at 5-5 in the early portion of the second quarter, the Midshipmen opened up an 8-5 advantage in the first eight minutes of the second quarter on goals by Tucker Hull, Jones' third of the day, and a Taylor Reynolds tally. However, that was the closest the Keydets would get the rest of the contest.
VMI brought the score to 8-6 with 2:23 left, as senior Bob Davis took a feed from Leonard, ripping a shot that found the top right side of the cage for Davis' first goal of the season.
Only 19 seconds later, Jones struck again with his fourth goal of the day at the 2:04 mark on a pass from Hull, as Navy regained the three-goal lead. Jones tacked on his fifth goal of the opening half five seconds left in the period, giving the Midshipmen a 10-6 advantage heading into the half.
At the midway point, VMI controlled 11-of-18 faceoffs, with junior Chris Rossie going a perfect 3-for-3 at the X. Navy held a 28-15 shot advantage, along with a slim 25-23 ground ball lead. VMI goalie, junior Kelly McMinn, had six saves in the first-half to Wickham's pair of stops.
Navy struck first in the second half of play at the 8:04 mark, as Hull assisted on a Brian Striffler goal. Navy added to the lead with 5:32 left quarter on a Harrison Chaires score to bring the score to 11-6 Navy. VMI snapped the 4-0 Navy run with 2:07 left in the third, as sophomore Russell East took a feed from Davis and found the back of the cage to bring the score to 12-6 in favor of the Midshipmen.
VMI found its second goal of the second-half of action with 7:50 left in the contest, as Davis racked up with second goal of the contest beating Wickham high-low to carry the score to 13-8 in favor of Navy.
The Mids tacked on the final goal of the contest with 4:05 left, as Nikk Davis racked up his second score of the contest to bring the score to the final of 14-8.
VMI won the faceoff battle as the Keydets were 14-of-26 from the X. Both Robarge and Davis had a pair of goals for VMI, while Davis also had an assist for a team-high three points. McMinn made 9 saves and scooped up eight groundballs from his goalie position. Navy outshot VMI 43-23 on the afternoon, and also won the groundball battle 43-41.
"The energy that we played with today was unbelievable, and we had a great fan turnout today behind us. The emotion and pride was definitely there, and we're only going to build on that," said Anken of the teams energy.
The Keydets return to action Weds., Feb. 16 as the squad takes on the Mercer Bears from Macon, Ga., at 4 p.m. The game will serve as the first home contest in Mercer lacrosse history.
